The rudder post gets a proper Jefa gaiter

Tuesday, March 22  The agenda for Tuesday was a work day for John while Sarah went off to play with her stepsister Aliyah who stopped by, all the way from Augusta, GA.  Owl Moon was supposed to be ready for the passage to Annapolis by the end of the previous weekend, but in the time between weekends, John confirmed that the suspicious black material covering the rudder post probably should be replaced.  The original flexible neoprene gaiter installed by Tartan had been removed and in its place was something that looked suspiciously like a piece of relatively inflexible rubber, perhaps from an inner tube.

John had consulted with Tartan and then PYI, maker of the gaiter installed by Tartan on new 4300s, and decided that a proper gaiter should be installed before making the passage to Annapolis.  PYI would ship the gaiter flat, ready to wrap around the post and then cement the two edges together. The challenge was going to be getting the gaiter on properly in place with the seam cemented flat using contact cement (only one try with contact cement, once the prepped surfaces come in contact, no moving them).

Rudder post with mysterious black material; naked rudder post; rudder post with Jefa gaiter installed (left to right).
Note: Rudder position sensor has been moved above the autopilot tiller connection.

You can see in the photos above that there was not a flat or smooth surface to work on for cementing the gaiter edges.  I thought removing the autopilot tiller arm attachment to the rudder post would give me more space to work (at least the carbon fiber rudder post was smooth).  However, my attempt to remove it failed.  I backed off the bolts, but the arm still seem locked to the post.  I did not want to create more issues by taking any drastic measures in an attempt to remove the tiller arm, so decided I would do the job with the tiller arm in place...I think I succeeded in doing so.  It can only be tested under use, so time will tell.

The key to doing the job was to cover one prepped surface with a plastic strip which I peeled off as I worked up from the bottom adhering the edges.  I also taped the back side of the gaiter in place before applying the contact cement to the edges on the seam side so that I didn't need to do a lot of manipulating of the gaiter with the prepped edges.

I have moved the rudder position sensor above the tiller arm and that seems to be a much better location as it does not interfere with the top of the gaiter attachment.  However, still to be done is to raise the other part of the position sensor (out of the photo to the left) to the same level.

Sarah comes to see Owl Moon

March 18-22 It was spring break at Hood College, Sarah's last before she graduates this May. We flew down together on Friday, arriving in time to get settled in before happy hour at the clubhouse. The plan was to use Owl Moon as a base to see some of the sights in the Golden Isles of Georgia and not actually go anywhere aboard Owl Moon.

 It was great to have Sarah finally come aboard Owl Moon.

Saturday we went to Driftwood Beach on the north end of Jekyll Island. The island is eroding at that end, so as the beach moves inland, trees die and eventually become driftwood on the beach, creating some very interesting visual effects. The beach is flat, with hard sand and we were able to take a nice walk on the beach with Sarah in her wheelchair.

After the walk, we made it to the Jekyll Island historic district in time to catch the last tram tour of the day. It was a very interesting tour that included going into some of the “cottages” of the wealthy families who wintered on Jekyll Island in the late 19th and early 20th century.

We ended the day with a drink, oysters, and diner at the raw bar on the wharf where families came to the island in the days when it was only accessible by boat.

Sunday we went to St. Simons Island to check out the beach there.  Not expecting much of a beach day, we were pleasantly surprised by a comfortable day to hang out a bit on the beach.  Again, it was a flat and hard sand that was allowed us to bring the wheelchair out on the beach.

After the beach, we toured the St. Simons Lighthouse and Lighthouse museum and then drove down the avenue of the oaks before heading back to Brunswick.

We were all, Diane in particular, impressed by the live oaks in the area.

Last stop was to see Lovers Oak in Brunswick, estimated to be about 900 years old with a 13 foot diameter trunk.

A front came through Sunday night (snow up in Maryland) with 30 knot gusts at the dock.  Monday morning, John made pancakes for breakfast, the first real meal prepared aboard Owl Moon…the breakfasts of oatmeal and lunches of PB&J don’t count.  Monday was a much chillier day…definitely not a beach day.  Sarah and John returned to St. Simons Island to see the grounds of Christ Church, Frederica.  That evening, John cooked the first dinner aboard Owl Moon…a simple meal of pasta, pesto, sausage and sautéed red pepper, but a meal prepared in the galley nevertheless.

John takes a work weekend to Owl Moon

March 10-13  Just before we left Owl Moon a few weeks ago we determined that the vents for both holding tanks were plugged.  They had probably been plugged since we purchased Owl Moon as we didn’t use the heads much prior to our last time aboard Owl Moon.  That explains some of the difficulties in using the heads as the holding tanks were being pressurized by flushing.  We pumped both holding tanks the morning of our departure and could tell the vents were plugged.  At least we left knowing what the problem was, and with the holding tanks empty…don’t want pressurized holding tanks.  So, the priority job for me this work weekend was to unplug them.

How to clear a blocked vent hose…The method I came up that worked fairly well was to remove the vent hose from the holding tank and attach it to the wet/dry vac.  Just running the vacuum was not enough to unplug it…it is a light duty 12v vacuum.  Running a water hose on the vent outside the hull in combination with a stiff brush, while running the vacuum, worked for both hoses.  I then used the power dinghy pump to blow air out the vent hose to confirm that it was clear.  Removing the vent hoses from the holding tank as well as getting them back on required warming the hose a bit.  Not having a heat gun or hair dryer, I found that a cloth soaked with boiling water worked well.

Another big success of the weekend was getting the AIS to display on the Raymarine E80 chart plotter.   We had paid someone to do install the AIS in St. Augustine.  He had not been able to get it to display on the chart plotter.  I had sent him some information from Raymarine which he said he had already tried.  He claimed that the NEMA 1083 port on the chart plotter was bad.  When I looked at the wiring he had done, it was obvious that he had not used the straightforward information from Raymarine.  Once I connected everything as it was supposed to be, the AIS displayed on the chart plotter.

Another work item was to trace unattached wires with ring terminals in the battery bank area that I discovered near the end of our last time aboard.  In the process of tracking them, and removing them as the other ends were also unattached, I found a dead end wire that was still attached to the hot terminal of the starting battery.  It felt good to get those sorted out before our passage back to Annapolis…not good to have unused wires lying around.  One could easily have grounded the sail drive and led to galvanic corrosion…a problem that had plagued Czech Mate.

The work weekend was a success with several full days.  No time to see the sites around Brunswick.  That will be on the agenda for next weekend when I return with Diane and Sarah.